Man confesses to killing US soldier in Iraq

CINCINNATI — A man in Iraqi custody has confessed to killing a U.S. soldier whose remains were found in 2008, four years after he was kidnapped by insurgents and a video showed him surrounded by armed captors, an Army spokeswoman said Friday.

A hearing in the case is set for Tuesday in an Iraqi court, though it's unclear if the man who confessed to killing Sgt. Matt Maupin will attend. Maupin, of Batavia in southwestern Ohio, was captured when insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms ambushed his fuel convoy near Baghdad on April 9, 2004.

Shortly after, the haunting video of the 20-year-old soldier was released showing him sitting on the floor surrounded by masked gunmen.

Maupin's family held out hope that he was still alive, but the U.S. military found Maupin's skeletal remains in March 2008 in a shallow grave near Baghdad.

Lt. Col. Alayne Conway, an Army spokeswoman, told the AP on Friday that a man in custody in Iraq confessed to killing Maupin. Conway was unable to provide further details, including the man's identity or nationality.

She referred questions to Rodney Ford, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He did not immediately respond to a request for more details Friday.

An Iraqi judge who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly to journalists told the AP on Friday that the man who confessed is Iraqi and is jailed in Baghdad.

The judge said the man initially confessed to Maupin's killing in 2009, and was tried and sentenced to death. He is being retried, because there was something wrong in the paperwork about the initial investigation, the judge said.

The judge said the defendant was an al-Qaida leader involved in the killing of Iraqi soldiers. The judge refused to name the suspect or give more information about him and said no date had been set for the new trial.

If the man confessed in 2009, Maupin's father, Keith Maupin, didn't know about it.

Keith Maupin, 63, of Cincinnati, said that an official with the Army's Office of the Judge Advocate called him six weeks ago to tell him about the confession.

"It was truly a surprise. I figured it was going to go away," he said. "It won't change what happened, but this guy will have to be held accountable soon. ... If that means he's put to death then so be it."

Maupin said he will travel to Washington, D.C., to attend Tuesday's hearing via video teleconference and will ask U.S. officials for more details about the man.

Maupin, who had fought for years to find out what happened to his son, said seeing his killer meet justice isn't about revenge.

"They can't hurt him no more and that's what's important to me," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Bob Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at http://ift.tt/MH7v9n

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

No UN deal on proposals for nuclear treaty review

UNITED NATIONS — The final preparatory conference for next year's review of the landmark 1970 agreement aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear arms ended Friday without agreement on final recommendations.

Peruvian Ambassador Enrique Roman-Morey, the conference chair, blamed a lack of time for negotiations — not a lack of political will.

But he told a news conference after the two-week conference ended that the pace of disarmament by the nuclear weapon states "is a problem" and the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free-zone in the Middle East "is also a very big issue."

By contrast, Roman-Morey said there were not many problems on issues related to nuclear security and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

He said he will present the proposed recommendations that were not agreed on to the May 2015 review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in his own name as chair, to serve as a basis for future negotiations.

The NPT, considered the cornerstone of global nonproliferation efforts, aims to prevent the spread of atomic arms beyond the five original weapons powers — the U.S., Russia, Britain, France and China.

It requires non-nuclear signatory nations not to pursue nuclear weapons in exchange for a commitment by the five nuclear powers to move toward nuclear disarmament. It also guarantees non-nuclear states access to peaceful nuclear technology to produce nuclear power.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said the conference failed to "jumpstart" action on disarmament or a weapons-free Mideast zone.

He said none of the nuclear weapon states has taken concrete steps to fulfil the states' commitment at the last NPT review conference in 2010 to "diminish the role and significance of nuclear weapons."

Instead, he said, "all of the world's nuclear weapons states are busy modernizing their arsenals."

If the NPT is to remain viable, Kimball said, the nuclear weapon states must follow through on their commitments.

"Creative, bold approaches will be needed to accelerate action on nuclear disarmament and to curb proliferation in the Middle East and Asia," Kimball said.

One recommendation discussed this week called for accelerated actions by the nuclear weapon states toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Roman-Morey said too many nuclear weapons remain in the hands of the five nuclear powers, and he urged the nuclear weapon states to "disarm in a more verifiable and transparent way than they are showing us."

At the 2010 review conference, the 189 member nations that are party to the NPT also called for convening a conference in 2012 "on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction."

It was scheduled to take place in Finland in late 2012, but the United States announced it would be delayed, apparently to save Israel, which is widely believed to possess a nuclear arsenal, though it has never confirmed having nuclear weapons.

The recommendations this week called for convening the conference this year.

Roman-Morey said he personally believes "it is going to be held before the end of this year," noting that the Russian delegate mentioned December.

Iran, Israel and Arab states have taken part in several informal meetings attended by veteran Finnish diplomat Jaakko Laajava, who is serving as facilitator of the proposed Mideast conference.

Roman-Morey said Laajava and the conveners of that conference — Britain, the United States and Russia — will host further informal meetings focusing on preparations for it, including its agenda.

Asked how NPT parties envision disarming Israel of its reported nuclear weapons in order to create a nuclear-free zone, he replied: "That's a question of a million dollars."

Oregon residents honor WWII pilot who crash-landed in their backyard

Seventy years ago, a P-63 Kingcobra plane went down in Garden Home, Oregon. It was just days after thousands of Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, now known as D-Day, and pilots who remained in the U.S. were busy training for war.

Those who witnessed the crash have helped members of the Garden Home History Project piece together the details of the event, as well as the rest of the pilot’s story, just in time to honor him for Armed Forces Day on May 17.

Saved by a chute

Lt. Robert Strong, a 25-year-old from Auburn, New York, was 3,000 feet above Metzger when his plane’s engine died. One of his tanks was empty, the other faulty.

It was about 7 a.m. on June 13, 1944, and the lieutenant from the Portland Army Air Base had nowhere to land – all he could see were trees. Radio contact with Strong’s flight leader was weak, and as the rest of the planes in the formation turned toward Portland, Strong slowed down, gliding over the trees.

At about 2,000 feet, over a wooded area, Strong pulled the emergency release, took off his helmet and seat belt, rolled the plane to the right and pushed out with a parachute.

“The tail surfaces passed over me and as soon as I saw the plane below me, I pulled the rip cord,” Strong wrote in a statement for the accident report. “The chute opened and at the same time I saw my plane hit the ground.”

Then came a flash of flame as one of the plane’s gas tanks exploded. Strong landed in trees nearby, unscathed except for a few scratches, waved to his flight leader (still flying above) to signal that he was OK, and headed to inspect the wreckage of his plane.

A crash crew arrived at the scene of the wreck with an ambulance, which brought Strong back to the air base.

Less than a year later, the lieutenant died in Germany after his plane was hit by a Flak anti-aircraft gun. Strong was unable to bail out of his plane, and he went down with it. He is buried at the World War II Netherlands American Cemetery. Strong’s son, who never met him, now lives in Florida.

Honoring the lieutenant

Now that the members of the Garden Home History Project know what happened to Strong, (their research has been three years in the making, spurred by curiosity after residents recalled the crash), they want to honor him, along with other Garden Home veterans, in a memorial at Garden Home Recreation Center.

At the memorial, they’ll present a slideshow that tells Strong’s story.

In addition to hours of research conducted by the history group, the community pitched in, too. In April, several residents helped out with a search party to find the site of the wreck. Though they can't be sure of the exact location, they're fairly sure of the general area.

The Kingcobra plane crashed just off Southwest 82nd Avenue, north of Taylors Ferry Road and south of Oleson Road. The general site is in a quiet residential neighborhood, and the plane likely went down in what is now someone's backyard.

Gene Shirley, about 13 at the time of the crash, remembered the way the crash, which happened near his house, shook his bed. He immediately woke up, and upon identifying the plane (all Americans were encouraged to memorize plane models so they could identify them as enemy or ally planes), he was eager to inspect it.

Others had flocked around the plane, collecting bullets, casings and other scraps, but Shirley’s father wouldn’t let him near it. In just a few days, the wreckage had been cleaned up, but the event lived on in residents’ memories.

Now, the researchers will get to share their work with others. Elaine Shreve, co-founder of the history project, said she was amazed they were able to get declassified military documents to supplement their findings.

“It’s very satisfying and very interesting,” she said. “It brings World War Two home to us.”

Nigeria refused help to search for kidnapped girls

LAGOS, Nigeria — The president of Nigeria for weeks refused international help to search for more than 300 girls abducted from a school by Islamic extremists, one in a series of missteps that have led to growing international outrage against the government.

The United Kingdom, Nigeria's former colonizer, first said it was ready to help in a news release the day after the mass abduction on April 15, and made a formal offer of assistance on April 18, according to the British Foreign Office. And the U.S. has said its embassy and staff agencies offered help and were in touch with Nigeria "from day one" of the crisis, according to Secretary of State John Kerry.

Yet it was only on Tuesday and Wednesday, almost a month later, that President Goodluck Jonathan accepted help from the United States, Britain, France and China.

The delay underlines what has been a major problem in the attempt to find the girls: an apparent lack of urgency on the part of the government and military, for reasons that include a reluctance to bring in outsiders as well as possible infiltration by the extremists.

Jonathan bristled last week when he said U.S. President Barack Obama, in a telephone conversation about aid, had brought up alleged human rights abuses by Nigerian security forces. Jonathan also acknowledged that his government might be penetrated by insurgents from Boko Haram, the extremist group that kidnapped the girls. Last year, he said he suspected Boko Haram terrorists might be in the executive, legislative and judiciary arms of government along with the police and armed forces.

The waiting has left parents in agony, especially since they fear some of their daughters have been forced into marriage with their abductors for a nominal bride price of $12. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau called the girls slaves in a video this week and vowed to sell them.

"For a good 11 days, our daughters were sitting in one place," said Enoch Mark, the anguished father of two girls abducted from the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School. "They camped them near Chibok, not more than 30 kilometers, and no help in hand. For a good 11 days."

The military has denied that it ignored warnings of the impending attacks. Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, a Defense Ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press the major challenge has been that some of the information given turned out to be misleading.

And Reuben Abati, one of Jonathan's presidential advisers, denied that Nigeria had turned down offers of help.

"That information cannot be correct," he said. "What John Kerry said is that this is the first time Nigeria is seeking assistance on the issue of the abducted girls."

In fact, Kerry has said Nigeria did not welcome U.S. help earlier because it wanted to pursue its own strategy. U.S. Sen. Chris Coons said Friday that it took "far too long" for Jonathan to accept U.S. offers of aid, and he is holding a hearing next week to examine what happened. A senior State Department official also said Friday that the U.S. offered help "back in April, more or less right away."

"We didn't go public about it because the consensus was that doing so would make the Nigerians less likely to accept our help," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue concerns internal discussions between governments.

Nigeria is a country of 170 million in West Africa that receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid from the U.S. every year to address a rising insurgency in the north and growing tensions between Christians and Muslims. The northeast, where the girls were kidnapped, is remote and sparsely populated, far from the southern oil fields that help to power Africa's biggest economy.

The abductions came hours after a massive explosion in the Nigerian capital of Abuja killed at least 75 people, just a 15-minute drive away from Jonathan's residence and office. Chibok government official Bana Lawal told the AP that at about 11 p.m. on April 15, he received a warning via cell phone that about 200 heavily armed militants were on their way to the town.

Lawal alerted the 15 soldiers guarding Chibok, who sent an SOS to the nearest barracks about 30 miles away, an hour's drive on a dirt road. But help never came. The military says its reinforcements ran into an ambush.

The soldiers in Chibok fought valiantly but were outmanned and outgunned by the extremists. They then made their way to the Chibok girls school, where they captured dozens of girls. Police say 53 escaped on their own and 276 remain captive.

The following day, Jonathan was photographed dancing at a political party rally in northern Kano city, and newspapers asked what their leader was doing partying when the country was in shock over the kidnappings. The Defense Ministry also announced that all but eight of the kidnapped girls had been freed, quoting the school principal. When the principal objected and demanded the military produce the rescued girls, it retracted its statement.

Frantic, some Chibok fathers made their way into the dangerous Sambisa Forest themselves, where the girls were last seen. But they turned back when villagers in the forest warned that Boko Haram would kill both them and their daughters.

The parents said the forest dwellers did not see any soldiers looking for the girls. And a state senator said that every time he gave the military information from people who had caught sight of the girls, the insurgents moved camp.

The military denied any collusion with the extremists and said it had been pursuing every lead. On May 1, it handed over responsibility for all information about the girls to Borno state officials.

For two weeks, Jonathan did not discuss the abducted girls in public. In his Easter Day message, he said only that his thoughts were with the families of those killed by insurgents and the dozens wounded by the Abuja bombing.

Last week, angry Nigerian women, including at least two mothers of abducted girls, took to the streets in Abuja to protest the government's failure to rescue the girls. Jonathan did not meet with them. Instead, he cancelled the weekly executive council meeting to offer condolences to his vice president, whose brother had died in a car crash.

His wife, Patience Jonathan, that night called a meeting to "investigate" what happened at Chibok, and said the kidnappings were engineered to hurt the name of her husband and his government. She accused the leader of the protests of being a Boko Haram member, detained her and released her after several hours.

Finally, at a Labor Day rally, Jonathan made a public pronouncement that "the cruel abduction of some innocent girls, our future mothers and leaders, in a very horrific and despicable situation in Borno state, is quite regrettable." He pledged, "We must find our girls."

On May 2, he set up a "largely fact-finding" committee to put together a strategy for rescuing the girls. Last Sunday, he raised eyebrows by saying on TV that he was "happy" the missing girls were "unharmed," but then admitting that the government had no new information from the abductors.

Jonathan also hinted Sunday at why, apart from national pride, initial offers of help may have been ignored. Even before the kidnappings, he complained, he had asked Obama in two telephone calls for help with intelligence on the extremists but received questions about alleged military abuses. Jonathan said he responded that the U.S. leader should "send someone to see what we are doing" on the ground, and "don't just say there is some matter of alleged abuses."

The Nigerian military is accused of widespread killings that go beyond members of Boko Haram. The Associated Press documented last year how thousands of people are dying in military detention, through the mortuary records of a Maiduguri hospital. And Amnesty International reported in October that hundreds of detainees were killed, tortured and starved, or even asphyxiated in overcrowded cells.

On May 4, Boko Haram abducted at least 11 more girls, aged 12 to 15, from two villages in the northeast. One of them managed to escape. And the Chibok girls are still missing, in a conservative society where girls who are raped can be stigmatized.

"It is very painful. I know my daughter, very obedient and very religious ... she wanted to be a doctor," Mark said. "I was eager to see my daughter with such a hope. Now....I don't know what I can explain to the world."

___

Associated Press writers Lekan Oyekanmi and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria, contributed to this report along with Lara Jakes and Darlene Superville in Washington and Gregory Katz in London.

Unofficial Navy retention survey aims to head off manpower problem

The paper had been generating a buzz for weeks when it showed up in Ben Kohlmann’s inbox in early April.

Authored by a fellow Navy pilot, it warned that the service is on the cusp of a manpower crisis: Talented, highly qualified officers are leaving the Navy in droves, wrote Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass.

Snodgrass cited growing departure rates among key groups, including SEALs and aviators, and listed reasons why the situation will worsen: the improving economy, longer deployments, fear of military pay cuts, and the withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan — conflicts that provided the “morale-boosting effect of participating in national crises.”

“They’ll be taking their expertise and lessons learned with them,” Snodgrass wrote about the departing officers, and the problem “seems to be going undetected by senior leadership.”

Like it did for many readers, the paper, titled “Keep a Weather Eye on the Horizon,” struck a chord with Kohlmann, a lieutenant in a staff job at Norfolk Naval Station, Va.

All around him, Kohlmann said in a recent interview, bright young officers are choosing to leave.

He got in touch with Snodgrass, who was in Virginia Beach preparing to become the executive officer of an overseas strike fighter squadron. Soon, they were working on what they hope will be part of a solution: a 15-minute online survey that aims to shed light on why sailors stay in the Navy or get out.

The service often uses what it calls retention surveys, but this is different. The survey was not developed or blessed by Navy officials.

Along with an intelligence officer named Chris O’Keefe, Snodgrass and Kohlmann are conducting it unofficially — something almost unheard of — in their off-duty time.

They started by assembling a 15-member advisory board, including academics and sailors with a range of ranks and commands, who helped them shape the questions. Then they built a website, dodretention.org.

It went live May 1. In the first week, about 4,000 people took the confidential survey, Snodgrass said.

He and Kohlmann said their goal is a full, honest picture of all the factors that play into retention. They think those go far beyond pay and benefits, to things such as sailors’ satisfaction with their work, their lives and their leaders.

Among the survey’s questions: Do you have a mentor? Is there enough parking? How does the Navy affect your marriage or your ability to date? When you’re at sea, how much sleep do you get? Do you think evaluations are fair? Do you think the right people get promoted? Is your boss too risk averse, or too focused on bureaucracy? Do you think top Navy leaders are willing to hold themselves accountable?

Snodgrass said he thinks that because the survey is unofficial, sailors will be more truthful than they are on questionnaires handed out by their commands.

The survey will be available through the end of the month. Using the same channels that circulated Snodgrass’s paper — blogs, social media, email, word of mouth — the survey’s creators want to reach as many active duty sailors as they can. They’re hoping for at least 30,000, or about 10 percent of the service.

How have Navy higher-ups responded? “There hasn’t been pushback or advocacy,” Kohlmann said, although some top leaders have shown interest.

“I share many of the concerns and have similar questions to those detailed in Guy’s paper,” the chief of naval personnel, Vice Adm. Bill Moran, wrote in March on the U.S. Naval Institute’s website. “We have to do better, and I must say that this discourse helps.”

Basic findings from the survey will be released in June, Kohlmann said, followed by a deeper report later in the summer. All of the raw data also will be made available.

Snodgrass said he hopes the information will be used by leaders across the Navy to boost retention, and he suspects a lot can be done inexpensively.

He said he thinks the effort may already be helping simply by generating discussion about how to make the Navy better, which could give officers who are considering leaving a reason to stay.

“It encourages you to become a stakeholder in the organization,” he said.

For more information or to take the survey, go to dodretention.org.

Should 2009 Fort Hood victims be given Purple Heart? Opinion is divided

WASHINGTON — Five years after the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, a new push is underway to make the victims eligible for the Purple Heart.

But the idea is drawing opposition from, among others, a group representing Purple Heart recipients, who liken the attack to workplace violence rather than combat.

The drive to recognize Fort Hood victims with the Purple Heart is being driven by Texans in Congress.

“As we know too well, the battlefield in the war on terror is not limited to foreign lands,” said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who sought the legislation. Another Texas Republican, Rep. John Carter, whose district includes Fort Hood, said the legislation would provide “the benefits, the recognition, and hopefully some closure to the victims and their families.”

The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the military killed or wounded in combat. The House Armed Services Committee this week included in a broad defense bill a measure that would make members of the military eligible for the medal if killed or wounded in an attack “inspired of motivated” by a U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, Purple Hearts may be awarded to military personnel killed or wounded as a result of an “international terrorist attack.”

But intelligence reports, investigations and studies found that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan acted as a “lone wolf,” the spokesman said.

“While there has been no intelligence or findings to date that indicate Hasan was under the direction or control of a foreign element, we stand ready to act accordingly should any evidence to the contrary be presented,” the spokesman added.

The Defense Department previously expressed concern about such legislation while Hasan was on trial for the killing of 13 people and the wounding of more than 30. But the Army psychiatrist was convicted and sentenced to death in August for the attack.

Prospects for the legislation remain uncertain in the Senate. The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to consider the issue this month. Separate from that measure, Sen. John Cornyn introduced a bill called the Honoring the Fort Hood Heroes Act. It has drawn only 15 co-sponsors, all fellow Republicans.

The issue has divided veterans groups.

The American Legion passed a resolution last year calling for the 2009 shootings to be classified as an act of terrorism and for the soldiers killed or wounded to be awarded “all honors and benefits due to battlefield combat,” spokesman Marty Callaghan said.

Veterans of Foreign Wars found in an informal survey of 726 of its members a “deep divide between Purple Heart recipients and non-recipients” of any proposed change to the criteria for awarding the medal, and as a result, opposes any change, said spokesman Joe Davis.

But the Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization of about 45,000 Purple Heart recipients, opposes authorizing the medal for those attacked by “one of their fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, which was clearly a case of ‘workplace violence,’ ” the group said in a statement.

The Purple Heart, among the nation’s most revered military honors, dates to 1782, when Gen. George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit. The medal, which features a likeness of Washington, fell into disuse after the Revolutionary War but was brought back in 1932.

Purple Hearts were awarded to military victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The 9/11 attacks were “clearly terrorist acts perpetrated by an organized foreign terrorist group,” according to the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

But the group said the criteria should not be changed because of the shootings at Fort Hood and a military recruiting station in Little Rock, Ark., to “accommodate these clearly criminal actions.”

A defense bill approved last year directed the Pentagon to review whether members of the military killed or wounded in the Fort Hood and Little Rock shootings qualify for the Purple Heart “under the criteria as members of the armed forces who were killed or wounded as a result of an act of an enemy of the United States.”

A report is expected in late June.

Fort Hood victims and family members have filed suit against the U.S. government, seeking damages for deaths and injuries and to have the shootings designated as a terrorist attack.

Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, said in written testimony recently submitted to the House Armed Services Committee that Hasan made clear “beyond a shadow of a doubt that his intent was to harm and kill U.S. soldiers in efforts to aid America’s enemies.”

Separately, a spending bill headed for a House vote would require the Justice Department to report on its role in advising the Defense Department to investigate and prosecute the Fort Hood shootings as “workplace violence” instead of terrorism.

In April, Fort Hood was the scene of another shooting rampage. Spc. Ivan Lopez shot and killed three fellow soldiers before committing suicide.

Military officials raided Marine law offices, may have compromised cases

WASHINGTON — An unusual government search of Marine Corps defense attorneys’ offices at California’s Camp Pendleton could cast a cloud over dozens of criminal cases.

The search May 2, which lasted about two and a half hours, included investigators opening more than 100 case files compiled by defense attorneys, Marine Corps officers say. The search went beyond what was necessary and exceeded applicable legal standards, officers think.

“It’s unacceptable,” Lt. Col. Clay Plummer, the Marine Corps’ regional defense counsel for the West Coast, said in an interview. “We’re going to litigate this, to make sure this never happens again.”

The courtroom fallout might take time to settle, as defense attorneys with Camp Pendleton’s Legal Service Support Team Echo consider challenges for each of the cases in which investigators allegedly accessed files. Among other arguments, the defense attorneys could charge interference with privileged communications.

In theory, defense attorneys could go so far as to seek the dismissal of charges against individual defendants whose files allegedly were compromised. Lesser remedies could also be sought

In a statement Friday afternoon, Camp Pendleton officials said the commanding general of Marine Corps Installations West had appointed an independent, neutral judge advocate to review evidence seized during the search.

The judge advocate will “identify whether any potentially privileged material was improperly disclosed,” the statement said, adding that “due to the pending litigation, and the independent review of the search, further comment on the facts of this search would be inappropriate.”

“The search of (defense attorneys’) offices is a rare event,” the statement stressed.

Rule 502 of the Military Rules of Evidence specifies that a client “has a privilege to refuse to disclose and to prevent any other person from disclosing confidential communications made for the purpose of facilitating the rendition of professional legal services.” Marine Corps defense attorneys typically won’t even disclose whether a servicemember has talked to them.

The defense services office that was searched at what’s formally called Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is one of two at the sprawling Southern California facility. It’s the busiest defense office in the Marine Corps, typically staffed by about eight active-duty attorneys.

Nationwide, the Marine Corps Defense Services Organization typically represents more than 1,100 Marines annually at courts-martial and administrative hearings. The organization prides itself as “Marines defending Marines.”

According to several Marine Corps officers familiar with the May 2 search incident, it arose out of prosecutors’ interest in a defendant’s cellphone for a particular Camp Pendleton investigation. A defense attorney offered to provide the phone but wanted a judicial order first.

Instead, officers say, a prosecutor — known as a trial counsel — showed up accompanied by at least four armed Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division agents. They had a search authorization, similar to a search warrant, but signed by a local commander rather than a judge.

The trial counsel escorted the agents into the defense offices, and then left. Wearing light blue latex gloves, investigators found the cellphone within about 20 minutes. Nonetheless, officers say, the search continued for another two-plus hours.

During the search, defense attorneys were reportedly blocked from leaving. A few surreptitious pictures were snapped. Attorneys also managed to contact Plummer, who oversees defense attorney operations at Marine Corps bases in California and Arizona.

“We believe these to be improper actions by the government,” Plummer said.

The Justice Department, for one, recognizes that searches of defense attorneys’ offices require a delicate touch. Chapter Nine of the U.S. Attorneys Manual specifies various protections, from drawing up search warrants for attorneys’ offices “as narrowly as possible” to creating a “privilege team” whose members can screen materials first.

Tips on giving the perfect Mother's Day gift

Chief Yeoman Tafaoga “Tafa” Collins remembers when her four children decorated her Coast Guard office for Mother’s Day. “When I went in Monday, I was very, very surprised,” she said.

Another time, her children composed a song for her, and recorded it on a CD. Her oldest daughter, Juanita, 17 — recently honored as Operation Homefront’s 2014 Coast Guard Military Child of the Year — played piano and sang with brother Joshua, 16, and sisters, Jazmin-Moli, 14, and Juliah, 12.

Military children can be quite resourceful, so we talked to mothers in the military community about the gifts they remember from their kids. Regardless of your age, you may pick up tips for meaningful gift ideas for your own mother or to help your young children provide gifts for Mom.

The moms’ favorites, by far, are those made by their kids. “After more than a dozen [permanent change-of-station] moves, I must confess that I still have every hand-drawn card and letter each of my five children has given me. Same goes for all those hand-print poems,” Marine wife Jessica Perdew says. Among those five children is Operation Homefront’s 2013 Marine Corps Military Child of the Year Abigail Perdew, who is finishing her first year at the Naval Academy.

If you’re a grown kid — and you’re able to do so — one of the easiest things you can do is simply to call your mom to chat, Perdew advises.

More ideas:

Compile a list of reasons your mom is the best. “I’m always surprised at the things my kids notice,” Perdew says. You can help children who can’t yet write turn this into a fun art project. Army wife Jessica Mason said her heart melted when her son gave her a heart colored on a blank piece of canvas in preschool a year ago.

The teachers asked the children what they wanted to say about their mothers, and Mason’s picture said, “She likes to watch Cinderella with me.”

Write a letter — by hand — to your mother telling her how much you appreciate her, and why. Many troops’ mothers said they have saved every letter their service member has written to them. They read them over and over again with tears and pride.

Mary Scott said now that her six children are grown, they still send her notes and cards. Four of the six are in the military, another is an Air Force veteran, and another is in the process of becoming a Catholic priest, and then, an Army chaplain.

Those treasured gifts will conjure up memories for years. “You always remember where you were when you got it,” she says.

Bringing Mom breakfast in bed is always appreciated. Scott recalls being upstairs “listening to the clanking and spilling” when her children were young. “It was always accompanied by a flower. And they’d all jump on the bed.” Perdew suggests making dinner — and then cleaning up.

Make a date with your mom to do whatever she wants to do, Perdew suggests. That might be a night at the opera, or a baseball game, or a long walk, a workout or a bike ride together. The point is, it’s up to Mom. If you can’t be there on Mother’s Day, set a date.

Plant something that she can enjoy for years to come. One of Perdew’s favorite gifts was a family effort on a Mother’s Day when her husband, Jason, was deployed. Her mother, who was visiting, “had each of my kids choose a rose bush, and we planted them on Mother’s Day. I couldn’t believe how much they grew in the two years we were there. Now someone at [Camp] Pendleton has lots of beautiful roses. When we went back last summer we even drove by the old house to check on ‘our’ bushes,” she says.

Don’t limit your thoughtfulness to Mother’s Day. Do something nice for your mother every day leading up to Mother’s Day — perhaps calling, writing a note, making dinner. Consider committing “random acts of kindness” periodically through the month.

Celebrate her memory. You may have lost your mother, and that can make Mother’s Day particularly difficult. So do something special — perhaps you and family members could go to brunch in memory of your mothers or just have fun in each other’s company. Because your mothers would want you to.

You know you're a military mom ...

Whether you’re a mom in the military, a spouse who’s a mom, or the mom of a service member, you know the heartache of deployments and separations, and the effects of the upheaval of military moves.

But pride, patriotism and a good dose of humor are the hallmarks of the comments we received to our Facebook query “You know you’re a military mom if ...”

Texting, calling, emailing and Skyping are as essential as eating and drinking for some. Time and again, mothers said they sleep with cellphones on their pillowsin case their child calls from afar in the middle of the night. And they will knock down anyone or anything in their path to get to the phone when it rings.

And whether they’re moms of active-duty troops, active duty themselves, or spouses of troops — or all of the above — they often take on a mothering role to other active-duty members.

Whatever your role or branch of service, be ready to laugh, cry — and identify. By the way, Mother’s Day is Sunday.

You know you’re a military mom ...

Air Force

“... when your kids have traveled through and lived in more states by their 10th birthday than the average middle-aged adult.”

— Stephanie Mestichelli-Schopfer

“... when mom is TDY and the CDC ladies tell Dad to bring the hair accessories.”

— Christine Anderson

“... when your kiddo asks, ‘where are we moving next?!’ about every two years and can already name options for potential assignments and give their input and preferences.”

— Michelle Hurley Kemp

“... when your 5-year-old asks, at least 3 times a week, if we’ve gotten orders yet ... to Hawaii ... lol ... optimistic kiddo.”

— Kati Torres

“... when you miss important moments of your kids’ [lives] to execute the mission, but they never mention it; your kids remind you to get your CAC and hat every morning ...”

— Misty Southerland

“... when your kids are playing and they scream, ‘Fire in hole.’ ”

— Elizabeth Sexton

Army

“... when at your change of responsibility, your 5-year-old tags the battalion CSM and commander and declares them ‘it.’ ”

— Erica Jones Lehmkuhl

“ ... when you run out of nursery rhymes and sing cadence to a fussy baby, and they like cadence better.”

— Kailey Burrus

“... if leaving on deployment brings you both exhilarating joy that you’re about to make a difference in the world while in combat and simultaneously brings you to the depths of despair to leave your children behind.”

— Dana Fischl

“... when you call your kids from the demo range on Mother’s Day so they can hear you detonate explosives!”

— Terri Christiansen

“... when you’re walking through the electronics department and your 1-year-old points at a computer and yells ‘dadda, dadda!!’ ”

— Abby Jackson

“... when you have pumped [breast milk] in the car on the way to PT ... when you’ve pumped while at the range.”

— Brandi Fogle Vannoy

“... when your daughter says, ‘I never have to be scared, my Mommy’s a soldier and she protects us from bad guys better than a superhero can.’ ”

— Stephanie Gavin

“... when your kids have hugged the legs of multiple soldiers because of the uniform, before realizing that’s not their daddy.”

— Bethany Lopez

“... when you send care packages not only to your son, but all of his battle buddies.”

— Cheryl Sexton Tolan

“... when your 2-year-old refers to naptime as 1300.”

— Laura McGraw Wert

“... when your daughter at her kindergarten graduation states she wants ‘to be a soldier just like my mommy’ when she grows up and it brings tears to your eyes.”

— Dawn Metro Flynn

“... when you call cadence to get your toddlers to leave the house. ‘Your left, left, left right left.’ ”

— Rosemarie McAllister

Marine Corps

“... when your son comes home from boot camp, sits on the porch next to you and hands you a huge bundle of envelopes tied with a boot lace, and says “thank you mom for writing me all these hundreds of letters, it’s what got me through.”

— Holly Cousins-Schaefer

“... [when] you can manage to hold it together as you pry your children one by one out of their father’s arms as they say goodbye to daddy, knowing that this moment of sadness can not compare to the overwhelming joy of their reunion.”

— Jillian Jacobs Morrow

“... when you knife hand your child, while using the term ‘Devil.’ ”

— Tiana Michelle

“... when your son walks in unexpected in full dress uniform to give you flowers for your birthday.”

— Amy Cuthrell

“... when your little ones tell other kids their mommy is fighting the buggy man so other mommies don’t have to.”

— Brianna Vorpahl

“... when you look forward to going on vacation to 29 Palms!”

— Lisa C. Jones Dains

“... if you ever told your minutes-old baby how sorry you are that daddy isn’t there because he’s headed overseas, but he loves her so much.”

— Aya Velazquez

“... if you’ve ever deployed and finally got the opportunity to call your kid just to hear them say, ‘I’m busy right now, mom’ and feel your heart break into a million pieces cause they’ve obviously moved on without you.”

— Tiffany Carter

“... when you and your kids know what a countdown jar indicates; when your packing system is done by color coding; and when you can accept the things you cannot change.”

— Michelle Rahmig

“... when you hold back tears and your emotions when you tell your kids ‘see you guys in six months, it’ll go by quick.’ But the best part is being [able] to finally let go of all those tears when you read that ‘Welcome Home Mom’ sign.”

— Nancy Cardenas

Navy

“... when you carry pictures of your child(ren) in your cover!”

— Cassondra Gillum

“... when you have to haul six bags to work every day — diaper bag, PT bag, lunch cooler, baby milk cooler, breastpump, and purse!”

— Theresa Sprague

“... when you always have one of your little boy’s baby blankets in your seabag, still smelling like his bath-time baby lotion.”

— Kristy Pegram

“... if you hug every young man or daughter in uniform and say ‘I am a Navy Mom and this is for your Mom.’ ”

— Lisa Hughes Lusk

“... when you Google your entire phone conversation with your son just to understand what he’s just told you.”

— Tammy Berry Weatherly

“... if coming home from deployment is the most exciting and anticipated day, but at the same time you’re nervous that when you reach out your baby will pull away ... because you’ve been gone so long.”

— Patrice Washington

“... when you and your spouse do an ‘official turnover’ when one of you deploys ... when one leaves, the other assumes the watch.”

— Christian Houston

“... if your rack is covered with pictures of your daughter and all you do in your free time underway is look at pictures and videos of her that you’ve seen dozens of times before.”

— Beata Jesusa Bautista

“... when, after the years go by, you realize you made it through all the things you never thought you could.”

— Shawna Bryant

“... [when] at 2200 or later you are finally able to take your boots and uniform off because until this moment you had to get everyone else in your life taken care of first.”

— Holly Miguel

“... when you’ve read more bedtime stories over Skype than you can count.”

— Meredith Jackson-Morgan

“... if your kids get your attention by calling you “YN1” after the “Mom, Mom, Mom” or first name doesn’t do it.”

— Randi McRobbie

“...when you work on the seventh deck and you give birth on the fourth deck of the hospital ... with lots of shipmates along for the ride!”

— Kathryn Foley Fair

“... when you have spent more time away on a deployment, IA,or GSA than at home in your 5- year-old’s life.”

— Amber Williams’

“... when your child asks you ‘Mom ... Are you going to war?’ ”

— Michelle McKenna

“... when your 1-year-old daughter does pushups”

— Dawn Fortenberry Turner

Blue Ridge encounters Chinese ships near disputed isle

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Blue Ridge-embarked helicopter photographed two Chinese navy ships May 5 near the site of a heavily contested shoal that has sparked a months-long standoff between China and the Philippines in 2012.

The Navy’s photo release of two Chinese Navy ships near Scarborough Shoal sparked some online news outlets to label the encounter a confrontation, which 7th Fleet officials disputed Friday.

USS Blue Ridge, the Japan-based 7th Fleet’s flagship, transited without incident near the two ships, Navy officials said.

All parties acted professionally, said 7th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. William Marks, who is embarked aboard Blue Ridge.

“There wasn’t any communication [with the Chinese] due to both Blue Ridge and its helicopter being a safe distance away,” Marks said.

Hull numbers in the Navy photos indicate the Chinese ships were the destroyer Lanzhou and the frigate Hengshui.

The visit near Scarborough was not a freedom of navigation operation, Marks said in response to a Stars and Stripes question.

In 2013, U.S. ships conducted such operations on China, Iran and 10 other countries in order to assert navigation rights in waters that the U.S. and many other countries consider international, according to an annual Defense Department report to Congress.

However, China’s views on what ships can do while transiting international waters differ from U.S. interpretations.

China maintains ambiguous claims to about 90 percent of the South China Sea through its “9-dash line” map, which shows dashes surrounding most of the sea. The Philippines filed a 4,000-page brief in international court on March 30 challenging the map, though China has declined to participate in the proceedings.

In 2012, a Philippine navy vessel attempted to arrest Chinese fishermen for taking coral and sea life from the Scarborough Shoal’s nearby waters, sparking intervention by Chinese maritime surveillance ships.

The standoff continued for months and sparked protests in both countries.

Scarborough Shoal lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, but China claims the shoal and the nearby Spratly Islands based on historical discovery.

The shoal, alternately referred to as Scarborough Reef, is about 430 miles from the Paracel Islands, where China and Vietnam currently have dozens of ships engaged in a standoff near China’s $1 billion deep water oil rig.

On May 7, Vietnam released purported video of Chinese ships ramming and firing water cannons at Vietnamese ships there. China claims Vietnam is the aggressor in the waters near the Paracels, which both countries claim.

Although both the Paracel and Spratly islands are mostly uninhabited, the energy reserves and fisheries in their nearby waters are believed to be extensive.

Slavin.erik@stripes.com

Twitter:@eslavin_stripes

Blue Ridge encounters Chinese ships near disputed isle

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Blue Ridge-embarked helicopter photographed two Chinese navy ships May 5 near the site of a heavily contested shoal that has sparked a months-long standoff between China and the Philippines in 2012.

The Navy’s photo release of two Chinese Navy ships near Scarborough Shoal sparked some online news outlets to label the encounter a confrontation, which 7th Fleet officials disputed Friday.

USS Blue Ridge, the Japan-based 7th Fleet’s flagship, transited without incident near the two ships, Navy officials said.

All parties acted professionally, said 7th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. William Marks, who is embarked aboard Blue Ridge.

“There wasn’t any communication [with the Chinese] due to both Blue Ridge and its helicopter being a safe distance away,” Marks said.

Hull numbers in the Navy photos indicate the Chinese ships were the destroyer Lanzhou and the frigate Hengshui.

The visit near Scarborough was not a freedom of navigation operation, Marks said in response to a Stars and Stripes question.

In 2013, U.S. ships conducted such operations on China, Iran and 10 other countries in order to assert navigation rights in waters that the U.S. and many other countries consider international, according to an annual Defense Department report to Congress.

However, China’s views on what ships can do while transiting international waters differ from U.S. interpretations.

China maintains ambiguous claims to about 90 percent of the South China Sea through its “9-dash line” map, which shows dashes surrounding most of the sea. The Philippines filed a 4,000-page brief in international court on March 30 challenging the map, though China has declined to participate in the proceedings.

In 2012, a Philippine navy vessel attempted to arrest Chinese fishermen for taking coral and sea life from the Scarborough Shoal’s nearby waters, sparking intervention by Chinese maritime surveillance ships.

The standoff continued for months and sparked protests in both countries.

Scarborough Shoal lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, but China claims the shoal and the nearby Spratly Islands based on historical discovery.

The shoal, alternately referred to as Scarborough Reef, is about 430 miles from the Paracel Islands, where China and Vietnam currently have dozens of ships engaged in a standoff near China’s $1 billion deep water oil rig.

On May 7, Vietnam released purported video of Chinese ships ramming and firing water cannons at Vietnamese ships there. China claims Vietnam is the aggressor in the waters near the Paracels, which both countries claim.

Although both the Paracel and Spratly islands are mostly uninhabited, the energy reserves and fisheries in their nearby waters are believed to be extensive.

Slavin.erik@stripes.com

Twitter:@eslavin_stripes

Fox confirms it canceled 'Enlisted'

Fox comedy “Enlisted” got an early discharge when the network announced recently it was axing the military sitcom even before the show’s last four episodes have run.

“I can confirm that it is not returning next season, unfortunately,” Fox spokeswoman Alexandra Gillespie tells Military Times.

The show is about a group of three misfit brothers serving together in a rear detachment unit at a small, fictional Army post in Florida. The show drew mostly positive reviews and a die-hard following of viewers, many of them in the military, but it suffered from low ratings overall.

Producers complained Nielsen ratings did not count viewers on military installations and said the show suffered from a kiss-of-death Friday night time slot.

“Well guys, we fought as hard as we could — all of us — but Enlisted isn’t going forward at Fox,” show creator Kevin Biegel wrote in a multipart posting on Twitter. “Thank you from all of us for your amazing display of support, love and for giving us a chance. This has been the most satisfying thing I’ve ever worked on, and a large part of that — hell, I’ll even say a crapton of it — was because of you. This show will continue to be shared for a long time. Good feeling.”

Amid a flurry of tweets and retweets after the announcement, Biegel wrote Fox would run the show’s final episodes eventually, writing “we’ve been told sometime soon so we’ll let you know.” However, Gillespie was unable to confirm that.

“And just so you know, we had a shot right up to the end no matter what any place says. People fought for us — That’s cool,” Biegel added in a follow-up tweet.

Meanwhile fans are storming the show’s official Facebook page begging network officials to reconsider.

“I want this show back!!! So funny. My friends hadn’t even heard of it till it was over,” posted one viewer. “Now they are as addicted as I am. You’ll have a following if you give it a better time slot & some marketing.”

Biegel offered a glimmer of hope the show might find new life somewhere else.

“#Enlisted is trending right now,” Biegel tweeted. “So if it’s possible to put a show on twitter, maybe we can do that.”

F.E. Warren named top ICBM wing for 3rd straight year

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Omaha Trophy is staying in Wyoming.

A top military commander presented F.E. Warren Air Force Base's 90th Missile Wing with the coveted award, which is given out annually to the top intercontinental ballistic missile wing in the country, during a ceremony Tuesday on base.

"It is so foundational to our national defense to have this strategic deterrent capability that is safe, secure, effective and credible," said Adm. Cecil D. Haney, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, during the award presentation that was attended by about 300 local airmen. "And that piece is due to your efforts, which you provide 24/7 to the United States of America."

F.E. Warren's 90th Missile Wing employs about 3,360 airmen and close to 975 civilian employees.

The Cheyenne-based wing, which is also called the Mighty Ninety, operates and maintains 150 nuclear-tipped Minuteman III ICBMs.

F.E. Warren beat out the two other ICBM bases — Montana's Malmstrom Air Force Base and North Dakota's Minot Air Force Base — to claim the Omaha Trophy for the third consecutive year.

Haney, who oversees the nation's entire nuclear arsenal, said F.E. Warren saw numerous accomplishments during the past year to earn the honor.

These include:

• Taking part in the successful launch of two test missiles.


• Completing 105 nuclear convoy missions.


• Identifying a helicopter fix that was implemented fleet-wide.


• Overseeing 443 weapon system modifications.


• Haney also applauded F.E. Warren for passing the many inspections the base undergoes each year.

"You knocked those out of the park, and you know what that is all about," he said. "We have high standards because when you think of this capability and what it means for the country and the world, we do a bit of these inspections for a reason."

The award, however, comes on the heels of a tumultuous year for F.E. Warren and the rest of the ICBM force.

The Air Force recently fired several senior leaders at Malmstrom and ordered a review of operations at all three bases after it was discovered that 96 missileers at Malmstrom cheated on their monthly proficiency exams.

In an unrelated move, Col. Donald Holloway, who commanded F.E. Warren's 90th Operations Group, was fired in March because of a "loss of confidence" in his ability to lead.

And in addition, an unpublished report obtained by The Associated Press last year cited that many ICBM launch officers are feeling "burnout" because of the stress and unrewarding nature of the job. It also claimed that misconduct and behavioral problems among the ICBM forces were higher than the Air Force as a whole.

Top military leaders say they are already implementing reforms to address the cheating scandal and address the morale issues of the missileers and other airmen who are tasked with operating and maintaining the ICBMs.

Haney echoed some of these sentiments Tuesday when he spoke of the importance of the base's mission.

"We are in an all-volunteer force, and many of you have other options that you could be doing," he said. "But you are here carrying out this mission — a mission that every time I'm with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel he asks about and a mission that I know the president of the United States has thoughts about and wants to be excellent."

Col. Tracey Hayes, commander of the 90th Missile Wing, also applauded the work of both the military and civilian members that make up the wing.

"Each one of you, including contractors and civilians, are part of the Mighty Ninety team," she said. "And it is because of your hard work and dedication...that I see excellence."

Hayes added that the airmen need to keep up their work and be cautious about becoming complacent.

"I want everyone to understand that we can't rest on our laurels," she said. "We got to continue to go out there and do the best job we can every day."

US Coast Guard cutter transferred to Nigerian Navy

CHARLESTON, S.C. — After 45 years serving the nation, the American flag was lowered down for the last time on the Coast Guard Cutter Gallatin on Wednesday, and the vessel was transferred to the Nigerian Navy in a ceremony full of naval pomp.

"It is with a heavy heart that this vessel will no longer sail with our nation's fleet of high endurance cutters," said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Bruce Baffer. But he added the Gallatin, now renamed the NNS Okpabana, will see important service off the coast of the African nation.

"Our two countries are united in a common goal of peace," Baffer said, before the Gallatin crew left the vessel for the last time and the American flag was lowered. The Gallatin, transferred under the Excess Defense Article Program, is the second cutter transferred to Nigeria in three years.

"We will cherish this," said Musiliu Obanikoro, Nigeria's minister of state for defense. "It signals the common interest of both American and Nigeria to strengthen the capacity of Nigeria to protect our waters and offshore resources."

He also thanked the United States for its promise to help find 300 teenage girls missing since they were kidnapped from a school by an Islamist extremist group in his country three weeks ago. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the United States will do everything it can to help find them.

The Gallatin, commissioned in 1969, was stationed in New York City until 1996 when it was transferred to Charleston.

During its service over the decades it played a part in 63 major narcotics seizures and during its last mission alone, which ended in December, the Gallatin seized $34 million worth of drugs.

In 2012, as Hurricane Sandy moved up the East Coast, the Gallatin was dispatched to search for crewmembers missing when the tall ship H.M.S. Bounty sank off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Later this year, Charleston will become the home port for the Hamilton, one of a new generation of Coast Guard cutters and the first of its class to be based on the East Coast. Three of the new cutters are already based in California.

The new cutters are bigger and faster than the Gallatin and can be operated with smaller crews — 110 crewmen compared to the Gallatin's 170. The new cutters also have a longer range and state-of-the art surveillance equipment.

House committee votes to keep troop pay raises, benefits

WASHINGTON – The House pushed ahead Wednesday with a vote to preserve troop pay raises and benefits over the coming year despite dire budget warnings from military leadership that not making cuts will harm readiness.

The House Armed Services Committee passed a 2015 military personnel budget that rejected the Department of Defense’s proposals to cap troop pay raises at 1 percent and slash the costs of base supermarkets, housing allowances and health care.

Military brass has warned it needs the reforms to fund a force that’s equipped and ready to fight. But in a marathon debate and amendment session, House lawmakers worked up a draft version of the nation’s defense budget that maintains the slate of benefits and wrings funding out of some ship, aircraft and construction programs.

Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., said the House strategy is to keep up military funding and investment as much as possible until Congress can reverse the Budget Control Act of 2011, also known as sequestration, a measure that requires steep reductions in defense and other federal funding.

“I think it’s best for the nation that we hold on to as much as we can until we find ourselves in a better [fiscal] situation,” McKeon said.

In addition to the 1 percent pay raise, the DOD wants to cut subsidies to base supermarkets from $1.4 billion to $400 million annually, reduce housing allowances until servicemembers pay about 5 percent for residences and utilities, and consolidate the Tricare health care system.

The House draft budget includes measures to poll troops and study commissaries, but otherwise ignores the DOD personnel recommendations. It is now headed to the House floor for a final vote later this month.

The Democratic minority tried to offset some of the budget spending by initiated a new round of military base closures and sidelining 11 of the Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers. But the proposals gained no traction Wednesday during the House debate.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., introduced the proposal introduced a proposal to trigger the Base Realignment and Closure act, which would mean a review and possible closure of military facilities. The last BRAC process began in 2005 and remains controversial; critics contend that projected savings from that round have never been realized.

“This is going to need to be done in terms of saving money,” Smith said. “We are simply not in a position to have the Department of Defense spending money on facilities they do not need.”

But Smith pulled the amendment and said he would introduce it to the full House later.

He also proposed to take the cruisers off duty following a budget recommendation by the Navy that would save about $4 billion over five years.

“The Navy looked at their entire situation … and concluded one of the best things they could do is this plan, to save a little money and spend it elsewhere,” Smith said.

But the cruisers will be seaworthy for years to come and Republicans on the committee rose up against the measure to take them out of service and do a refurbishment.

“We are going to take ships out of active duty that have 10 years left in their service life,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va. “It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

tritten.travis@stripes.com

Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

Audit: US military ammo storage woes include Utah Army depot

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal auditors say computer troubles and bad accounting practices are leading to inefficiency in the storage of U.S. military ammunition, including ammo stored in Utah at the Tooele Army Depot.

The General Accounting Office says in a new report that depots across the country have incompatible computer systems and other problems that prevent ammo from being tracked and shared.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that in some cases, the accounting problems lead to ammunition being needlessly destroyed. That includes everything from .45-caliber bullets to missiles.

The GAO says it's especially a problem at the Tooele Army Depot where staff must calculate storage space manually.

"Tooele officials said this process can often take up to a day," the report said, "and, in the end, is still only an approximation of available space."

The Department of Defense manages a stockpile of conventional ammunition valued at about $70 billion. A significant chunk of that is at the Tooele Army Depot.

It is the storage facility for the Army and much of the Department of Defense in the Western states and the Pacific. Most of the munitions are stored in concrete igloos built in the 1940s and 1950s. The Tooele Army Depot also destroys munitions deemed obsolete or otherwise unneeded.

According to Lt. Col Don Peters at Army public affairs, the Department of Defense has a $160 million annual budget for destroying munitions. In the current fiscal year, that money will pay to destroy 23.7 million items amounting to 82,700 tons of munitions.

Sam Dallstream, who works in Virginia at the munitions division for the Department of the Army, said the Army considers its options before destroying any weapons, from sharing it with other branches, to selling it or providing it as aid to a foreign military.

"We do make every effort to recycle, reuse or sell it before we destroy it," Dallstream said.

The GAO report issued last week makes seven recommendations, including upgrading the Army accounting system and moving the Navy and Marines to the system. The Air Force already plans to join the Army system in 2017. The report also recommends requiring the Army to make annual reports on ammo available for redistribution or scheduled for disposal.

Sikorsky wins $1.24 billion deal for new Marine One helicopters

HARTFORD, Conn. — Helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. announced Wednesday a $1.24 billion contract to build the next fleet of "Marine One" presidential helicopters, ending a yearslong effort to return the high-profile aerospace project to Connecticut.

Sikorsky, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., said the contract is to modify, test and deliver six S-92 helicopters and two trainer simulators to the U.S. Marine Corps. It says it will eventually supply 21 aircraft by 2023.

"Every president since Eisenhower has flown in a Sikorsky, made right in Connecticut," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. "I am thrilled to see this contract come back to Stratford where it has always belonged and where it should have gone in the first place."

Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., said the Navy's decision "comes five years and $3.2 billion too late after first pursuing failed foreign alternatives."

DeLauro and Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said the state's congressional delegation lobbied the Pentagon to end a previous contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. and Europe-based AugustaWestland after cost overruns nearly doubled the price of the program and saw it fall six years behind schedule.

Then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, citing cost, canceled Lockheed Martin contracts in 2009 for a helicopter to carry the president and a communications satellite.

The helicopters will not be manufactured solely in Connecticut. Assembly will be in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and principal subcontractor Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training will install communications and mission systems in Owego, New York.

Aircraft modifications and installation of the helicopter's interior will be at Sikorsky's Stratford, Connecticut, site.

The announcement is a big deal for Sikorsky, which has faced declining revenue and recently laid off workers after the U.S. military exited Iraq and has begun to wind down operations in Afghanistan.

In February, United Technologies Chief Financial Officer Greg Hayes said Sikorsky faces a "tough couple of years," though he said it has a bright future.

Sales of the Black Hawk, which the military has relied on as a workhorse helicopter striking targets and ferrying troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, have fallen about 20 percent year over year, Hayes said in January.

Chinese, Vietnamese navy ships collide, sparking standoff

TOKYO — Vietnamese and Chinese ships collided Wednesday near a Chinese oil rig in waters claimed by both nations in the South China Sea, further escalating a rift that began when China began drilling near a disputed island group last weekend.

A Vietnamese official told The Associated Press that no ammunition was fired and there were no reports of injuries as a result of the standoff in waters near the Paracel Islands, about 150 miles from the Vietnamese coast and about 225 miles from China’s Hainan Island.

China has held de facto control over the islands since a naval battle with South Vietnam in 1974, but Vietnam maintains its claim.

Two foreign diplomats told AP that Vietnam dispatched up to 29 armed naval and coast guard ships to areas near the oil rig when it became aware of China’s intentions.

The Vietnamese official said the flotilla was outnumbered by the size of a Chinese fleet escorting the rig, according to AP.

AP reported that all officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Chinese claims to roughly 90 percent of the South China Sea — despite competing claims from Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei and Taiwan — have increasingly concerned security officials in the United States and elsewhere, largely because of their potential to spark conflict in an area where much of the world’s energy resources and consumer goods travel on ships.

The United States also operates ships in the region in a bid to preserve freedom of navigation in international waters — a concept China views far differently than the U.S. and many of its neighbors. While most nations claim rights to operations in the Exclusive Economic Zones within 200 nautical miles of a nation’s shores, China does not.

Prior to reports of the collision, Daniel Russel, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said Wednesday that the United States was watching the conflict, but urged caution from all sides.

“We believe that it is critically important for each of the claimant countries to exercise care and restraint,” he told Reuters during a visit to Hong Kong, ahead of a previously scheduled trip to Hanoi on Wednesday.

“The global economy is too fragile and regional stability is too important to be put at risk over short-term economic advantage.”

The Maritime Safety Administration of China announced May 3 on its website that all ships should stay away from the rig, called the Haiyang Shiyou 981.

The decision drew immediate condemnation from Vietnam, where a foreign ministry spokesman called the area “undeniably within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.”

International maritime law generally considers waters within 200 nautical miles (230 statute miles) of a country’s borders to be part of its exclusive economic zone.

China maintains it owns the area largely through a claim of historical discovery.

“Relevant drilling work is totally within waters off China’s Xisha islands,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, using a Chinese name for the Paracels, when asked about the escalating situation by reporters on May 6. Hua declined to elaborate.

China’s move comes just after President Barack Obama’s visit to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia. All except South Korea have territorial disputes with China.

During a news conference in Manila, Obama noted that the United States doesn’t “go around sending ships and threatening folks” when it has territorial disputes, a pointed reference to China’s actions.

In Washington on May 6, State Department officials criticized China’s oil drilling in the area.

“Given the recent history of tensions in the South China Sea, China’s decision to operate its oil rig in disputed waters is provocative and unhelpful to the maintenance of peace and stability in the region,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “These events point to the need for claimants to clarify their claims in accordance with international law and reach agreement about what types of activities should be permissible within disputed areas.”

China and Vietnam have repeatedly clashed over territory since Vietnam’s official reunification in 1976. The two nations engaged in repeated border skirmishes from 1979 through 1990.

Besides the Paracel battle in 1974, the two navies fought over Johnson South Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in 1988.

More than 70 Vietnamese sailors died in the Chinese victory, according to media reports.

Since then, China’s military has grown far larger, as have its national ambitions for control of the South China Sea.

China has stepped up maritime patrols and flights over islands it considers its own based on historical discovery, but that at least six other nations also claim under international law.

U.S. allies and other nations in the region have accused Chinese ships of cutting their communications cables and restricting their ships’ movements.

Last year, China imposed fishing regulations on large parts of the South China Sea that the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and other nations either view as their own, or as international waters.

In recent years, Navy officials have accused Chinese ships of shadowing and obstructing the navigation of U.S. ships, though such accusations have dropped within the past year.

slavin.erik@stripes.com

@eslavin_stripes

Navy ship USNS Spearhead returns to Little Creek for work

VIRGINIA BEACH — At first glance, it's hard to know what to make of the Spearhead as it pulls up to the pier at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek after four months overseas.

The Navy ship is unlike any other in its fleet. It has not one hull, but two; it's built of aluminum, not steel, making it lightweight but also more vulnerable; and it powers into port on its own — able to turn with precision, without the help of the tugboats needed by deep-hulled warships.

Instead, four diesel-powered jets churned up steady cascades of water Tuesday as the 338-foot vessel maneuvered with ease into the slip of Pier 13.

"There's nothing else like this in the Navy," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Atherton, one of 50 sailors and Marines deployed aboard the civilian-staffed Military Sealift Command ship. "It is high-speed. It is versatile. It is maneuverable. We can launch small boats from it. We can do anti-piracy."

The Spearhead returned Tuesday from four months in the Mediterranean Sea and off the coast of Africa, midway through its maiden overseas voyage. The first joint high-speed vessel in its class and one of 10 planned for the Navy will spend about two weeks here for maintenance before heading to Central America.

With its lightweight frame and vast cargo bay, it can carry 600 tons of equipment and 312 passengers.

After leaving in January, U.S. forces aboard the ship conducted a series of exercises with various partner nations, including Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria and Togo.

The work included maritime police operations to combat human and drug trafficking, illicit fishing, and violation of trade zones and territorial waters. They also delivered tons of humanitarian supplies under the Navy's Project Handclasp program.

The ship also conducted test flights with a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle called a Puma, launching and landing it on the ship's aircraft deck while at sea.

The Spearhead's civilian skipper, Capt. Douglas Casavant, said this was an opportunity to gauge what the vessel could really do and to assess its limitations.

"When you actually go out and do something in the real world, that's where you are going to find out where your strengths and weaknesses are," Casavant said.

The catamaran design is based on commercial passenger ferries, with a large open cargo bay and another transport bay for passengers with 312 reclining airplane-style seats and storage for gear and weapons.

With its giant loading ramp and jet propulsion, the ship is able to move large groups of people and equipment in and out of ports quickly.

Its cargo or "mission" bay can also be converted into a hospital if needed, Casavant said.

The ship can travel at 40 knots — close to 50 mph. But being lightweight also makes it vulnerable.

If a conventional Navy warship hits debris at sea, it will likely damage whatever it hits. The Spearhead, however, could be severely damaged by debris, so the crew must be particularly watchful, especially at night.

"It's scary," Casavant said. "It will rip us open."

He said the biggest challenge was integrating and accommodating the different detachments of U.S. forces with the civilian crew and international forces on board.

Another big challenge: unlike a single-hull ship, the catamaran does not rock with the waves, but rather lurches in an unusual and somewhat discomfiting way.

"If you are used to riding the other ships, it's an odd motion," said First Officer Jeff Helfrich. "She doesn't roll as much as she kind of lurches and heaves and throws you."

The civilian crew, which had trained with the ship ahead of time, wasn't bothered. But the Navy sailors had a tougher time, particularly on the ride home.

"This was different than anything I've been on," Atherton said. "A lot of Dramamine, a lot of time in the rack. I was down hard for about a week.

"It was rough," he said, smiling. "I'm glad to be home."

On the pier Tuesday, Atherton's parents, who drove in from Indiana, were excited to watch the ship dock and see their son standing at the stern and raising the American flag.

"He's so close," said his mother, Cindy.

Standing a few feet away, friend Heather Cantrell said she also came to welcome Atherton home. But what she really wanted to see was the Spearhead.

"Jeff's gonna kill me, but I am more interested in the ship," she said, fascinated by how easily it maneuvered.

"It's a big ship that moves like a small ship," she said.

Vietnam escalates dispute with China over oil rig

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam warned China on Tuesday that it would take all necessary measures to defend its interests in the South China Sea if Beijing does not remove a large oil rig from waters claimed by both countries.

The remarks represent an escalation of the dispute in one of Asia's most volatile regions.

China's stationing of the oil rig over the weekend is widely seen as one of its most provocative steps in a gradual campaign of asserting its sovereignty in the South China Sea.

China's assertiveness along with its growing military and economic might is alarming Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries in the region that also claim parts of the oil- and gas-rich waters. The United States, which is undertaking a military and economic "pivot' toward Asia in part to counter Chinese influence, shares the concerns of the smaller nations.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called China's action "provocative and unhelpful to the maintenance of peace and stability in the region."

A Vietnamese government statement said Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh called Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and told him the deployment of the $1 billion deep sea rig, which he said was accompanied by military vessels, was illegal and a violation of Vietnamese sovereignty.

Beijing says that the rig, CNOOC 981, is in its territorial waters. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea.

"Vietnam cannot accept and resolutely protests this Chinese action. It demands that China withdraw the rig HD981 and escort vessels from this area," the statement quoted Minh as telling Yang.

Minh said Vietnam wanted to solve all territorial disputes with China peacefully but "will apply all necessary and suitable measures to defend its rights and legitimate interests" in the seas.

Despite Minh's warning, Vietnam has limited leverage in dealing with its giant neighbor and vital economic partner. It can't afford damaged ties with Beijing, and has no hope of competing with it militarily. But it also needs to show a strong response to appease domestic critics, who accuse it of being soft on China.

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry says the rig is within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as defined by the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. China's maritime administration has announced that ships are prohibited from entering a 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) radius around the area.

The Philippines, a treaty ally of the United States, is challenging China's claims in the waters in an international tribunal in defiance of Beijing's wishes that the disputes be negotiated bilaterally. Vietnam and other claimant states have not joined Manila in taking that step.

China is believed to be embarking on a strategy of gradually pressing its territorial claims by taking incremental measures to asset its sovereignty, believing that its smaller neighbors will be unable or unwilling to stop it. Vietnam has accused Chinese ships of cutting cables to its oil exploration vessels and harassing fishermen.

The oil rig is close to the Paracel Islands, which are controlled by China but claimed by Vietnam. China occupied the Paracel islands 40 years ago, and 74 U.S.-backed South Vietnamese forces died in a subsequent military clash. The Vietnamese and Chinese navies clashed again in 1988 in the disputed Spratly Islands, killing 64 Vietnamese sailors.

The United States is not a claimant in any of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, but says it has an interest in their peaceful resolution. Psaki said the U.S. was looking into situation regarding the oil rig.

"These events point to the need for claimants to clarify their claims in accordance with international law and reach agreement on what kinds of activities should be permissible within disputed areas," she told reporters.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Family of Marine Corps vet sues Pittsburgh VA for wrongful death

57 minutes ago

The University Drive campus of VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.
VA

By Kristen Doerschner

Beaver County (Pa.) Times

Published: May 7, 2014

PITTSBURGH — The family of an Aliquippa, Pa., veteran who died while being treated for lung cancer and after contracting Legionnaire’s disease filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

Clint Compston filed the lawsuit in federal court Monday on behalf of his father, Clark E. Compston, a Marine Corps veteran who died Nov. 14, 2011, at age 74.

According to the lawsuit, Clark Compston suffered from small cell lung cancer and was being treated at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Pittsburgh when he was exposed to Legionnaire’s disease on or about Sept. 28, 2011.

The suit claims that despite showing symptoms of the disease, the hospital delayed testing Compston for days, even though VA personnel knew Legionnaire’s was spreading through the facility.

On Oct. 27, 2011, Compston declined further chemotherapy after his “bad experience with Legionnaire’s disease” and was transferred to a palliative care unit, where he died several weeks later.

The suit says the family is seeking funeral expenses, medical and hospital expenses and other damages.

Air Force Academy sergeant gets 4 months for bathroom video

By Tom Roeder

The (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Gazette

Published: May 6, 2014

An Air Force Academy sergeant was sentenced to four months behind bars after a court-martial panel convicted him of taking a covert bathroom video of a naked woman.

Tech. Sgt. Jose L. Vuittonet Jr. also was reduced in rank to senior airman and given an additional three months of hard labor to follow his jail time, the academy said Tuesday in a news release.

The academy said Vuittonet was acquitted on allegations that he showed the covert video to others at the school.

Vuittonet is assigned to the academy's 306th Flying Training Group, which teaches cadets to parachute and fly gliders.

He was tried at a special court-martial, which could levy smaller penalties than are available to the highest level of military courts, the general court martial.

The academy said the sergeant's charges related to an off-base incident in a private home in July 2011.

"The victim of the video-taping is a civilian, not a military member, and not a cadet," the academy said in a statement.

NATO, Japan agree to cooperate more

BRUSSELS -- The U.S.-led NATO alliance and Japan, facing mounting security challenges in their respective neighborhoods, agreed Tuesday to cooperate more.

During a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to NATO headquarters, the two sides signed an "individual partnership and cooperation program" that will serve as a roadmap for future joint activities, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

In a speech to ambassadors from the alliance's 28 member states, Abe said: "NATO, which shares our fundamental values, is indeed our natural partner. Together, we triumphed in the Cold War."

Rasmussen said the new program will affect joint activities like counter-piracy operations, disaster relief and humanitarian aid. He also lauded Japan for spending billions to support alliance operations in Afghanistan and for being NATO's oldest partner from outside Europe or North America.

"There is no doubt the security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic and Asian-Pacific regions cannot be treated separately," Rasmussen told a joint news conference. "In this time of crisis, our dialogue with like-minded partners like Japan is key to address global security challenges."

The program comes at a time when the alliance is greatly concerned about the intentions of President Vladimir Putin's Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine, and when Japan is beset with security challenges of its own, especially from China.

"In the East China Sea, we have seen persistent intrusions into Japan's territorial waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands," Abe said in the non-public portion of his speech, according to a transcript provided by Japanese officials. "The number of times that (Japanese) Self-Defense Force aircraft scramble in response to military aircraft approaching our territorial airspace has now reached the same level as during the height of the Cold War."

"For Japan, realizing peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific is a top priority," Abe said. "We will act in cooperation with any nation who seeks to play a constructive role toward that end. At the same time, Japan will adhere to the rule of law and defend the maritime order, including freedom of navigation, as well as freedom of overflight."

Abe, who wants Japan to be a take a more "proactive" foreign and security policy, is on a nine-day visit to Europe. His visit concludes Wednesday with a meeting in Brussels with leading officials of the European Union.

South Korea warns North Korea over new nuke test

NEW YORK — South Korea's foreign minister warned North Korea on Tuesday that the cost of keeping and testing nuclear weapons will be so high that it could threaten the survival of Kim Jong Un's regime.

Yun Byung-se told a standing-room audience of diplomats, U.N. officials and Korea-watchers at the International Peace Institute that the North will pay "the heaviest price" in new sanctions if it defies the international community and goes ahead with a new nuclear test.

Many experts — and the South Korean government — had suspected the North would conduct its fourth nuclear test during President Barack Obama's recent visit to Seoul. North Korea has said it still may go ahead and test a new kind of nuclear device following Obama's visit.

"Our assessment is that North Korea is ready to undertake a test whenever they make the necessary political decision," Yun said.

A call to North Korea's U.N. Mission seeking comment was not answered.

He explained that a new test "will make a great impact on the strategic landscape in our part of the world" and could undermine the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of global nuclear disarmament efforts. North Korea has pulled out of the treaty.

Faced with this challenge, Yun said South Korea has been making intensive diplomatic efforts to deter the North from carrying out a new test with the other parties to the stalled six-party nuclear talks aimed at reining in the North's nuclear program, Security Council members, the European Union and Asian nations.

In the event of a new test, he said, the U.N. Security Council must fill all loopholes in the four rounds of sanctions it has already imposed on the North over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and individual countries must take similar tough measures.

As long as North Korea relies on nuclear weapons to make threats, Yun warned, "then we, South Korea, together with our partners in the Security Council, will make the cost of having these nuclear weapons very very high, very very heavy, so that could backfire to the regime — the survival of the regime."

At the same time, Yun stressed that South Korean is seeking to build a peaceful and "new Korean peninsula."

He reiterated President Park Geun-hye's proposals last month to reunify Korea, which has been divided along the world's most heavily fortified border since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

"It takes two to tango," he said. "We hope North Korea will respond positively to our genuine proposals."

Yun said South Korea "recognizes that our journey for reunification will be long and bumpy" but he said a nuclear-free and unified Korea would alleviate security threats in northeast Asia and stabilize the region.

"The geopolitical plate of the region is going through what I would call tectonic shifts," he said. "We are witnessing a rising China, a resurgent Japan, an assertive Russia and an anachronistic North Korea which is simultaneously pursuing nuclear weapons and economic development."

Yun said conflicts over history, territory and maritime security, among others, are raising concerns "that even a military confrontation owing to miscalculations may become a reality."

At the heart of these conflicts, he said, is "a trust deficit."

Yun said that's why South Korea is seeking to unify the two Koreas and build a new Asia and a new world.

Yun said he is "rather optimistic about this unification" because there are changes inside North Korea and many changes outside including China and Russia now saying publicly for the first time that they are in favor of peaceful reunification of the Koreas.

"We have to be prepared for that possibility, or any scenario that will be unfolding in the coming months and years," he said

He recalled the day 23 years ago when East Germany and West Germany replaced their two nameplates at the United Nations with a single nameplate that said Germany.

"Likewise, I do believe the day is approaching, perhaps much faster than we may all realize, for the two Koreas to replace their respective nameplates with one single nameplate that simply says Korea," Yun said.